Using Photoshop projects in Final Cut Pro is a great workflow, because Final Cut will allow you to use the Photoshop layers independently.

In Photoshop I am going to start with a 1920 by 1080 Film and Video project preset.

The First step will be to use the rectangle tool to create the lower third box at the bottom of the screen.

Next drop the opacity to 50%, and rasterize the layer.

Now it is time to add a text layer. The biggest reason I use Photoshop for creating titles is because I like the look of beveled text in Photoshop.

Once the text layer is complete, you will want to duplicate it, so all the attributes carry over from the first text layer. In this case we will reduce the size of the font for the second text layer.

I have a football graphic open in Photoshop, that I will move it into my lower third project. After I get the graphic the way I want it, I will reposition the text, and rectangle, so the lower third looks good as a whole.

Before saving the project turn off the background layer, and convert each text layer to a smart object. Converting to smart object will preserve the bevel and emboss.

Save the Photohop project to your Final Cut project folder

When you bring the Photoshop project into Final Cut Pro it will have a sequence icon, more on that in a second.

After you bring the Photoshop project into your Final Cut project, you will need to reset the distortion.

Now double click on the Photoshop project in the Timeline. Remember how the Photoshop project showed a sequence icon in the Browser, well that’s because it is it’s own sequence. Within this sequence, we can see the various layers that were created in Photoshop, and we can now manipulate them independently. I am now keyframing the four layers so that the rectangle, the graphic, and the text all move on to the screen one at a time from different directions.

Back in our master sequence the changes we made to the Photoshop project sequence are updated into the master sequence. Anything we do to the Photoshop project in Final Cut Pro, such as apply a transition, apples to the Photoshop project as a whole.

This is a great workflow. At GeniusDV we teach workflows like this in all our classes sign up for a GeniusDV training class today.